Out of the Abyss session 3: Entering Gracklestugh

Last time, the group travelled through the Darklake and escaped the horrors of Neverlight Grove with the remaining myconids, heading ultimately for Gracklestugh. Between the two sessions we had some personnel changes- Varys (half-drow ranger) was back, and Kerasa (dwarf fighter) and Brynn (gnome wizard) were away. We also had Barakus (tiefling monk), Navarre (half-elf rogue), and Zinaella (half-elf paladin). The only remaining NPCs were Buppido, the derro, Topsy, a deep gnome, and a kuo-toa the group rescued from the Darklake.

The group had been travelling with the myconids for a few days when Sovereign Basidia announced it was time for them to part ways, as the myconids had to find a new home. Kerasa had left shortly after fleeing Neverlight to continue on her mysterious mission. Brynn told the group the myconids were allowing her to travel with them, which she saw as a great opportunity to learn more about the Underdark. She said she would catch up with them in one of the major Underdark cities.

Barakus, Navarre, Zinaella and the NPCs set off, hoping to find more information on escaping the Underdark in Gracklestugh. After about half a day, the tunnel they were travelling through began to slope upwards, and they heard a commotion ahead. Sneaking forward, they saw a group of orcs on a rope bridge that crossed a ravine, arguing with a familiar half-drow- Varys.

The group came forward as the orc leader was challenging Varys to fight. He noticed the rest of the “weaklings,” as he called them, and accused Varys of an ambush. The orcs wanted the group to back off and let them cross first. The group agreed, so the leader came across, with the rest of the orcs following on the bridge and their shaman waiting on the other side.

As the discussion continued, Barakus leapt forward and smashed one of the posts holding the bridge up with a well-placed kick [a great acrobatics and attack check]. Several of the orcs tumbled into the ravine, and the orc shaman was trapped on the other side. Combat broke out.

The orc leader managed to score a few good hits on Zinaella and Navarre, but Varys’ archery backup helped them take him down. The shaman’s spells weren’t helping much, so she fled. The group then carefully made their way across the one rope holding the bridge up and continued into the Underdark after catching up with Varys.

They travelled for a few more days [I skipped over a lot of the random encounters to keep the story going] when they entered a narrow, winding tunnel. Suddenly, two hook horrors burst from a side passage, and ran past the group down another narrow tunnel. The group heard the distinctive cries of a pack of gnolls behind the hook horrors, and tried to get out of sight.

Several gnolls rushed past the group and ran after the hook horrors. They group followed carefully behind them. The passageway ended in a broader cavern where the gnolls had the hook horrors cornered. As the gnolls moved to attack, the group attacked them from behind. One of the gnolls wounded Barakus pretty badly, but the rest fell.

As the group tried to decide what to do about the two hook horrors, they heard more howling behind them, including one distinctive word, “Yeenoghu.” The group readied themselves for another attack. Two gnolls burst into the room and fell under the group’s bows and blades. The remaining gnolls were more wary, and managed to break their way in and provide cover for their leader. The leader severely wounded Varys, while Navarre took a few more hits. Eventually the group picked off the weaker gnolls, and killed their pack chief. Exhausted, they all jumped as a mist rose from the gnoll leader, and a haunting voice filled the cavern, “Yeenoghu will remember this…”

The hook horrors were wary but didn’t attack, as they could tell the group wasn’t chasing them. So the party carefully backed away from them, found their way through the twisting tunnels, and continued to Gracklestugh [this was the set encounter “Hook Horror Hunt”].

After several more days of travel, the ground they walked on began to change. The tunnels became more orderly, and paved stones started appearing on the ground. One night while they were preparing camp in an alcove to the side of a passage, the group heard something approaching. They hid, and soon a wagon driven by two deep gnomes, full of carts, passed by them. The group called out, and the wagon stopped. The deep gnomes were wary at first–and Topsy tried to remain hidden, so wasn’t much help–but realized the group wasn’t a threat.

Navarre hoped to sell some of the items they had, or trade for useful goods but the deep gnomes weren’t interested. They had a shipment of weapons that were needed for the defense of their home Blingdenstone. Barakus asked about the rumors they’d heard of a way to the surface, and the deep gnomes said some of their scouts had found accessible paths, but as they were traders they didn’t have much information. After sharing a pleasant meal, the gnomes moved on and the group went to sleep.

After about another day, they came to massive gates, and realized they were at Gracklestugh.

Buppido had claimed to be a person of some importance, so the group urged him to secure their entry [the group claimed he said this at some point, I couldn’t remember but played along]. He confessed to having lied, and said derro tend to not be very popular with the duergar gate guards. So Zinaella approached the gate to discuss.

They claimed to be fleeing the drow and wanted passage into the city; the group also mentioned returning one of its citizens. The duergar warily let the group in, but warned them not to cause any problems. They also told the party they would be unable to leave without official approval. Not given much choice, the party agreed.

As they passed through the gates, however, a side passage opened and a duergar walked out. This was Gorglak, a corrupt duergar guard. He claimed to know they were lying, and demanded something to keep quiet. The group offered gems they had found—including some gems taken from the eyes of a Lolth statue in Chapter 1—and he agreed [after a successful persuasion check] but passed on the Lolth gems…He told the group to take the gems to his contact, Werz, in the docks, and disappeared back into the wall.

They entered the city, and were immediately hit with a wall of heat and noxious fumes from all the furnaces running inside the city walls. Buppido guided them towards the docks, travelling through the city market. On the way they saw many odd occurrences—they watched a duergar become insanely angry with a deep gnome after he offered to sell something to the merchant, then inordinately polite as he attempted to sell something to the gnome. The group stopped to unload some of the merchandise they’d uncovered, but the merchant’s first counteroffer was to “chop off the tiefling’s head” and take all the gear. Because this was said in a friendly, rather than hostile, manner, the group was confused, and continued negotiating with the merchant till they had sold their wares.

The party began pressing Buppido to help in some way, as he’d been the one pushing them to come to Gracklestugh. He said he would need some time to find his contacts, and would return in about a day, then rushed off into the crowds. Meanwhile, their kuo-toa companion said he noticed a kuo-toa boat at the docks, and wanted to talk with them so he left as well.

The group continued on to the docks when they saw two masked duergar appear out of thin air, pull out glowing daggers, and begin to viciously stab a duergar walking along the docks. Topsy urged the group not to intervene, but Navarre was interested in the glowing daggers [it’s not the most noble of parties] so they tried to help. They easily fought off the attackers, and revived the victim. It turned out to be their contact, Wertz, who asked them to take him to the nearby tavern.

Inside, the duergar bought the group a round of ales and shots of some fiery liquor that several of the group struggled to keep down [bad constitution checks]. The group told him of their deal with Gorglak, and he took the gems, then offered them some money if they could take another bag of gems to Blingdenstone. The group agreed, and began asking Wertz for more information on the city. He suddenly became rabidly hostile, screaming at the group for their rudeness, and stormed out. As he did, two of the other patrons attacked each other. The group separated them, and neither of the duergar could remember what they were fighting about.

The bartender was appreciative of the group’s help, and gave them another round of shots. Varys became a bit ill, but managed to hold it together. The bartender was impressed with the group [good charisma checks] and tried to help. He mentioned the city had been getting more chaotic and tense recently, which was strange for the orderly duergar. He also told them he’d heard rumors of demon attacks on nearby settlements.

Stumbling out, the group thanked the bartender and headed towards the only inn that would serve outsiders. As they were walking there, their kuo-toa friend returned and said the boat would be leaving in a few days and they may be able to escape on it; he then left the group to return to the boat. The party secured rooms and food, partnered up and went to bed. Topsy tried to get a room to himself, but the group laughed at him, and made him room with Varys [I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a punishment- I pretended Varys was particularly flatulent].

In the middle of the night, Varys heard a noise coming from the closet, and saw that Topsy was gone. He opened the closet and saw a wererat that resembled Topsy. The wererat asked him not to tell anyone, and to just let him stay in the closet for the night. Varys told him to get out, and then went back to sleep [this big reveal of Topsy’s lycanthropy was not as shocking as I’d hoped].

Next week, the group becomes more embroiled in the growing turmoil of Gracklestugh…